Robinson's Podcast

• 249 - Chris Hedges: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Rise of American Fascism

  Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author and journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times. He has covered numerous wars across the decades, written many books—including America: The Farewell Tour and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America—and has been involved in work for prisoner advocacy. In this episode, Robinson and Chris discuss Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the rise of American fascism. More particularly, they address comparisons between Trump and Hitler, DOGE, the new crisis for the Democratic Party, Israel and Palestine, the Christian far right, Marxism, and more. Chris’s latest book is A Genocide Foretold (Penguin Random House, 2025). Chris’s YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@chrishedgeschannel?si=XIMAFyQFmWGoYyuOThe Chris Hedges Report Substack: https://chrishedges.substack.comA Genocide Foretold: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786808/a-genocide-foretold-by-chris-hedges/OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:00:59 PTSD and Weightlifting00:06:49 The Decline of the American Empire00:11:10 The Strongest Dimension of Trump’s Presidency00:17:20 Was Hitler a Better Speaker than Trump?00:19:54 How the Democratic Party Sold Out the Working Class00:22:21 Elon Musk and the Oligarchic Takeover of America00:28:26 Is Elon Musk Wrong About the Efficiency of Government?00:31:02 What Is the Deep State?00:42:46 Is Donald Trump at War with the Deep State?00:49:23 Infiltrating the Far Right Christian Community00:54:04 Becoming a Minister00:57:27 The Christian Right and the Fascist State01:06:26 The Problem of Evil01:10:31 On Sadism and the Decline of Empires01:17:35 Why the Christian Right Supports Israel01:20:20 How Does Trump Think of Israel?01:27:38 On How the CIA Attempted to Recruit Him01:31:06 Is Israel Still Committing Genocide in Gaza?01:40:25 Chris’s New Book01:46:24 On His Time with Hamas01:55:01 Journalism vs Academia01:58:28 Is Zionism Anti-Semitism?02:04:52 How to Read the Bible02:12:01 Where Does Integrity Come From?02:22:26 Dehumanization in Palestine02:26:15 On Marxism and Elon Musk02:31:16 The Farewell Tour02:35:34 On Trump’s Love of TV02:37:50 On Reporting the Middle East02:39:56 Russia and Ukraine02:42:59 Growing Wealth Disparities in the United States02:46:56 Fascist Attacks on Education02:51:39 The Dark Future of the Press02:57:30 Could the American Empire Be Revived?Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 248 - Richard Wolff: Trump, Hitler, and the End of the American Empire

  Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s eighth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his last appearance, episode #243, he and Robinson discussed 2025 and the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, as well as what’s to come. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, his domestic and global policies, China, narratives on the right and left, and the future of the United States. In this episode, they continue the discussion by diving deeper into recent events, Doge, Elon Musk, the relationship between Trump and Hitler, and important historical Marxists. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalismRichard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.comEconomic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdateOUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:01:27 What Do Trump and Hitler Have in Common?00:09:42 Is This the Democratic Party’s Worst Crisis?00:14:58 Is Trump’s Economic Policy a Hail Mary?00:26:29 The Mexican Deportation Crisis00:30:19 Global Retaliation Against American Tariffs00:33:29 America’s Big Mistake with Russian Sanctions00:40:50 Trump’s Big TikTok Mistake00:47:05 How Adolf Hitler Came to Power in Germany01:08:40 Does Elon Musk Symbolize the End of America?01:16:07 How Bosses Lie When They Fire You01:23:08 On Elon Musk’s Chainsaw Public Relations Disaster01:28:52 On the Drowning American Empire01:34:36 On Elon Musk and the Self-Destruction of Tesla01:39:27 Feudalism, Communism, and the Death of Capitalism01:46:22 Does China Represent a New Breed of Capitalism?01:55:16 What Can the United States Do to Beat China?02:03:46 What Makes Mao an Important Marxist?02:17:56 Richard Wolff’s Mediocre Ivy League Education02:23:59 How Mao Made the China of Today02:40:39 The Myth of European Global Dominance02:52:08 On Antonio Gramsci and Mussolini02:57:03 Why Is Gramsci One of the Great Marxists?Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 247 - Garry Nolan: Aliens | The Case They’re Already Here

  Dr. Nolan is the Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has published over 350 research articles and is the holder of 50 US patents, and has been honored as one of the top 25 inventors at Stanford University. He specializes in groundbreaking cancer and immunotherapy research. Yet Garry is also a world-renowned UAP investigator and Executive Director of the Board at the Sol Foundation, one of whose unofficial mottos is: Science, Policy, and Public Education for a Post-UAP World. In this episode, Robinson and Garry discuss the evidence that aliens exist and have already visited Earth. More particularly, they discuss various hypotheses about what aliens are—interdimensional travelers, visitors from other planets, Boltzmann Brains, and others—the Atacama Mummy, Garry’s own UFO encounter, the relationship between aliens and national security, the Pentagon Videos, the Fermi Paradox, and more. Keep up with Garry through X and the Sol Foundation.Garry’s X Account: https://x.com/GarryPNolanThe Sol Foundation: https://thesolfoundation.orgOUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:01:23 Garry’s Interest in Aliens00:05:03 How Garry’s Medical Research Turned into Alien Investigations00:14:44 The Alien Controversy Around the Atacama Mummy00:24:08 What Is the Definitive Proof for Aliens?00:29:34 What Are UAPs00:32:46 What Are Interdimensional Aliens??00:36:03 What Are Ultraterrestrial Aliens?00:40:01 The Time-Traveling Alien Hypothesis00:41:13 The Angry-Monkey Alien Hypothesis00:43:35 The Panspermia Alien Hypothesis00:48:20 Could Intelligent Aliens Have Come to Earth?00:54:50 Garry’s Background in Genetics00:57:13 Does Extraterrestrial Life Need Air and Water to Live?01:07:16 What Is the Fermi Paradox?01:15:56 UFOs and Government01:22:23 Garry’s UAP Experience01:35:27 On Telepathy and Paranormal Abilities01:39:31 On the Credibility of Alien Witnesses01:41:34 Does the Government Suppress UFO Reports?01:49:11 Why Are Aerospace Companies Hiding UFO Data?01:51:53 Does the Government Possess Alien Metals?01:58:29 Is Knowledge of Aliens a National Security Threat?02:02:15 On Alien Abductions and Animal Mutilations02:06:28 The Violent Changes to Brains Exposed to UFOs02:17:56 Garry’s Top Secret Clearance02:19:15 The Truth About the Tic-Tac UFO Incident02:37:25 What Is the Skywatcher UAP Contact Program?02:46:01 The Sol Foundation02:58:24 Why Alien Research Can Prevent Nuclear War03:02:03 What Are Transmedium Alien UAPs?03:04:50 Are UAPs Biological Threats?03:06:31 On Avi Loeb’s Pioneering UAP Research03:12:49 Is Jacques Vallee One of the Most Important Alien Researchers?03:18:17 What Should You Tell Someone Who Doesn’t Believe in Aliens?Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 246 - Tim Maudlin: A Masterclass on General Relativity

  Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. This is Tim’s seventh appearance on the show. He last appeared on episode 237 for a masterclass on Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity, explaining it from the ground up and elucidating some common misconceptions. In this episode Tim returns for a discussion of another of Einstein’s major impacts on physics: his theory of general relativity. More particularly, Tim and Robinson discuss black holes, time, paradoxes of distance, Penrose diagrams, figures like Leonard Susskind and Richard Feynman, the curvature of space, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.siteThe John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org00:00:42 An Extended Prelude00:05:08 Naming Names00:10:02 The Difference Between Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity00:13:46 Einstein on General Relativity and Metric00:27:21 More on Coordinates00:40:26 A Novel Coordinate System00:46:25 What Is Special Relativity?00:50:30 The Conflict Between Quantum Theory and Relativity01:02:00 Doing Physics with Geometry01:12:38 Geometry and Special Relativity01:30:20 More on Geometry and Relativity01:36:19 Lorentz Frames01:46:56 Simultaneity02:02:03 John Bell and Special Relativity02:11:00 Paradoxes of Distance02:22:12 A Penrose Diagram02:27:47 Introducing General Relativity02:32:23 The Most Important Experiment About Gravity 02:45:52 Changing the Geometry of Spacetime02:55:28 Curvature of Space03:02:03 Be Careful with Diagrams in Science 03:05:45 The Basic Idea of General Relativity03:10:23 The Equivalence Principle03:19:40 Clocks and Gravity03:28:09 Richard Feynman on General Relativity03:37:00 The Cosmological Constant03:41:56 What Are Black Holes?03:50:45 What Steven Weinberg Got Wrong About General Relativity 04:01:01 Black Holes and the Centrifugal Force Paradox04:06:32 Curved Black Holes and Gödel Spacetime04:19:34 The John Bell InstituteRobinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 245 - Leonard Susskind: String Theory and the Black Hole War

  Leonard Susskind is Felix Block Professor of Physics at Stanford University. Along with other accomplishments, he is among the fathers of such revolutionary concepts in physics as string theory, black hole complementarity, the holographic principle, and the string-theoretic landscape. He was also the guest on episode #217, where he and Robinson discussed the fine-tuning problem and the physics of the multiverse. In this episode, Leonard and Robinson get into another topic—black holes and the information paradox. More particularly, they talk about important figures like Stephen Hawking and Gerard ’t Hooft, singularities, chaos, whether the cosmos is a hologram, the end of the universe, and more. For further details, check out Leonard’s book on the title: The Black Hole War (Back Bay Books, 2009).The Black Hole War: https://a.co/d/3eTOHoZThe Theoretical Minimum: https://theoreticalminimum.comOUTLINE00:00 Introduction05:21 Black Holes and the War Between Relativity and Quantum Mechanics11:18 Is The Singularity at the Heart of a Black Hole Real?21:51 Demystifying the Puzzle of Quantum Information28:27 What Does The Famous Phrase “It From Bit” Mean?38:47 Can Information Be Stored on the Surface of a Black Hole?47:11 Was Stephen Hawking a Good Physicist?56:21 How Will The Universe End?1:00:49 What Is the Black Hole Information Paradox?1:10:47 What Is the Holographic Principle?1:20:01 How Leonard Susskind Won the Black Hole War Against Stephen Hawking1:25:09 What Is the Infamous AdS/CFT Correspondence?1:32:29 Is Physics in a Deep Crisis?1:39:29 Are String and M-Theory Totally Wrong?1:43:05 Is String Theory the Theory of Everything?1:47:43 Is String Theory a Failure?1:50:15 Does Our World Have Extra Dimensions?1:53:34 Could Our World Be a Hologram?Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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